LOS ANGELES- The Kings have moved to within one game of the greatest upset in franchise history since 1982's "Miracle on Manchester," when they toppled Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers.

The eighth-seeded Kings dropped the league-leading Vancouver Canucks 1-0 Sunday in front of 18,352 fans at Staples Center, taking a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven, first-round series.

This victory marked the first time in franchise history that the Kings have taken a 3-0 lead in a playoff series.

"It's definitely something to be proud of but we can't stop here. We didn't make the playoffs just to be up three-nothing in a series," Drew Doughty said. "We want to win this series and go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals."

They did so behind their captain and their most valuable player. Dustin Brown had six shots on net, four hits and the game-winning goal. Jonathan Quick turned in a shutout despite his team being outshot handily.

Brown snapped home a rebound after stopping at the front of the net to earn the 1-0 edge 6:30 into the third period. Brown has scored four goals in three games this postseason.

"It means everything to us, that's what he has to do on a daily basis to be a force out there," Anze Kopitar said.

"These last two games have been among the best he's played in a long time."

In a hotly contested match, both teams took plenty of penalties but neither made their opponent pay. The two sides were a combined 0 for 12 with the extra man.

Vancouver played without Daniel Sedin, who will miss the rest of the series with a concussion. The Canucks also saw his brother Henrik and second-line center Ryan Kesler shaken up by big hits.

The Canucks also made a switch in net, with Corey Schneider replacing Roberto Luongo. Schneider stopped 19 of 20 shots while Jonathan Quick made all 41 saves for the Kings.

After two periods, the game was scoreless and the Kings were doubled up on shots 24-11.

For much of the night, the Kings handled the puck like a hand grenade, failing to sustain possession at even strength or on the power play. They had 17 giveaways to just nine for Vancouver.

"We didn't have a very good first or second, we still haven't played our best game," Doughty said.

With five minutes to play in the second stanza, the Canucks applied heavy pressure on the power play.

Quick saved Chris Tanev's blast with his skate by the finest of margins. A painful blocked shot by Rob Scuderi and a timely clear by Matt Greene also helped avert disaster for the Kings. The pairing stayed on the ice for almost the entire two-minute penalty kill.

"The fire drill was on there for sure," Jarret Stoll said. "Just to get out of that little sequence was huge."

"Quickie was huge all night, he made big saves all night. He was all over the crease, he was all over the net and we have to give him a lot of credit tonight."

In the second period, the physical play picked up heavily for both sides.

The most violent eruption came 2:53 into the frame.

Brown rocked the Canucks' remaining Sedin, Henrik, with a strong shoulder check. Though there was no penalty assessed for the clean hit, the ensuing melee saw Vancouver's Kevin Bieksa pick up a roughing minor before Kopitar got into a rare fight with Alex Burrows.

"To see Kopi get in a fight is awesome," Doughty said. "It definitely gave us a momentum boost to see our star player do that for the boys."

More pileups followed as the period wore on with each whistle bringing at least a little extracurricular activity.

Jannik Hansen had two sterling chances for Vancouver, dinging the post in the first period and missing wide on a shorthanded two-on-one rush in the second.

"If we don't believe in ourselves, we can write it off. We can have to come with a really strong attitude and believe we can win this next game," Hansen said.

The teams headed to the first intermission scoreless. Vancouver outshot the Kings 11-5 despite the Kings having two power plays to the Canucks' one.

The first period ended with a dicey defensive sequence for the Kings. Sami Salo's long wrist shot handcuffed Quick. Quick showed off his agility with a sprawling save on Burrows' bid from in tight, the first of several spectacular saves on the night.

"Every good team has a really good goaltender and it's no different with us," Stoll said.